In their last game before district on Tuesday night, Jan. 5, the Smithville Lady Tigers outlasted the Cuero Lady Gobblers 54-31 at home.
Coming off a couple difficult losses in the G.M. Blackman Tournament and in Dripping Springs, the Lady Tigers were focused and seemed ready for district play.
“I was very pleased with our effort and energy,” said head coach Robin Ramsay. “Not only was our varsity very focused, our freshmen and JV players were as well. It was a good night all around.”
The first few minutes of the game were a summary of the rest of it. The Lady Tigers started the game out with good defense, and in turn, good shooting.
They were able to keep the Lady Gobblers to just four points in the first four minutes, while they scored nine points.
Lady Tiger Blakelee Saunders, who along with teammate Jaimie Kadlecek, had a game-high 14 points, made a three-pointer with a little over two minutes left in the first quarter.
Colline Morrell, who contributed a total of five points for Smithville, got a field goal shortly after.
Kadlecek then stepped in and made two quick field goals with a little less than two minutes left in the first quarter, ending it with a score of 20-9 Smithville.
Smithville was sluggish at the start of the second quarter, getting their only two points in the first five minutes from Taylor Weldon. Meanwhile, Cuero’s Lind, who led her team with 10 points, contributed a field goal, as did T. Wade, who had a total of four points.
Finally, with 2:38 remaining in the half, Saunders made her second three-pointer, as well as a third one right at the buzzard.
While their fans cheered away, the Lady Tigers went into the locker room ahead by 13, 29-16.
Smithville was able to keep Cuero from scoring in the first five minutes of the third quarter, while they scored nine points.
Saunders started out the quarter the same way she ended the last one – with a three-pointer. Shortly after, she came back for a field goal with 6:12 remaining in the quarter.
Teammates Kadlecek and Ariel Vinklarek each contributed two field goals in the next two minutes. Vinklarek had a total of seven points.
Faith Ralph, who had been injured for the whole season, came back and played for a few minutes.
With 3:05 remaining in the quarter, the Lady Gobblers got on the scoreboard for the first time in the half with a field goal from Mayfield, who totaled with nine points.
Megan Weinheimer, who had a total of four points, got Smithville’s last basket of the quarter, which ended with a score of 40-20 Smithville.
Cuero’s Washington, who scored a total of four points, made the first basket of the fourth quarter with 5:23 remaining.
Shortly after, Lady Tiger Taylor Homuth, who had an impressive six points coming off the bench, all in the fourth quarter, made a field goal.
Teammate Kadlecek contributed another field goal with 4:10 remaining.
Lady Gobbler Lind, who was the only one on her team to make a basket in the last four minutes of the game, made a quick three-pointer and another one later on.
Meanwhile, Smithville’s Hommuth made two field goals in the last two minutes of the game.
“Our defense really stepped up, which always leads to higher percentage shots for us,” Ramsay said. “We were very determined to make that happen with district starting soon.”

Columbus

In their first district game on Friday night, the Lady Tigers defeated the Columbus Cardinals 31-19 in a low-scoring game at Columbus.
“Not a pretty win, but a win,” said head coach Robin Ramsay. “Columbus had a good game plan in slowing the game down and we got impatient. We also failed to rebound which has been our downfall the whole season.  We will keep working on that and hopefully see improvement.”
Lady Tiger Blakelee Saunders led her team in scoring with a total of nine points.
Teammates Jaimie Kadlecek and Megan Weinheimer followed her with seven.
Other scoring players were Colline Morrell (5), Taylor Homuth (2) and Ariel Vinklarek (1).